Archello Awards 2025: Open for Entries! Submit your best projects now.
Archello Awards 2025: Open for Entries!
Submit your best projects now.

Pratt Institute, Higgins Hall Insertion

Applied products
View all applied products

The new Higgins Hall Center Section is an urban insertion which draws from the sections of the two adjacent historic landmarked buildings. Floor plates of the north and south wings do not align. By drawing this misalignment into the new glass section to meet at the center a “dissonant zone” is created which marks the new entry to the school. The two masonry buildings together with the new glass insertion form an “H” in plan. New courts facing east and west are paved in the reused red brick which was salvaged following the fire that took place in 1996. The east facing court overlooks the green yards of the inner block, while the west court is shaped as the main front on St. James Place.

photo_credit © Andy Ryan
© Andy Ryan

Rising from this red brick plinth, the glass center is supported on six pre-cast concrete columns. Fabricated in Canada the thick steel beams and columns form stone-like bones, while the “U” shaped structural glass planks with translucent white insulation form a thick glowing skin. The thick skin is interrupted by clear glass at the dissonant zone, which is aligned with the internal ramps, turning the circulation north and south for views out.

photo_credit © Andy Ryan
© Andy Ryan

The misalignment in floors can be seen in the dissonant zone which varies increasingly as it moves vertically in section: on the first floors, the misalignment is ½ inch; on the second floors it is 1 foot 8 inches, on the third floors it is 4 feet 9 inches, and on the fourth floors it is 6 feet seven inches. Thus, the dissonance moves from the detail thickness of a finger to human scale. Rebuilding the center allowed a new arrangement of the School of Architecture under the direction of Dean Thomas Hanrahan. For the first time the north and south wings are functionally connected, and the School of Architecture gained a single, clearly-oriented entrance and central entrance court that becomes a meeting point to the neighborhood.

photo_credit © Andy Ryan
© Andy Ryan

The new functional spaces include: new design studio spaces, classrooms and media office, the Leo Kuhn entrance/reception area, a new auditorium with overflow seating for digital projection, and the new Robert H. Siegel Architecture Gallery.

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute
Applied products
View all applied products

Architect: Steven Holl Architects, USA - New York
Product: LINIT®EcoGlass P 26/60/7, low iron, solar, TSH (toughened, sandblasted, heat-soak-test)
Awards:
-AIA New York Chapter Architecture Honor Award (2007)
-Roger H. Corbetta Merit Award, Concrete Industry Board (2006)

Caption
Caption
Caption
Caption
Brand description

LAMBERTS glass factory is one of the two largest cast glass factories in Europe and has one of the most modern plant and machine parks anywhere. LAMBERTS is the only glass factory in Europe to manufacture U profile glass in all stages of production. U-profiled glass, also called U-glass or channel glass, is used for elaborate, design-driven architectural projects all over the world due to its quality, refinement possibilities, clear forms and technical variety. Furthermore, we are the only cast glass company in the world to manufacture all types of existing cast glass: LINIT®EcoGlass (U-Glass), a special and "U"-shaped rolled glass, ornament glass (also available as a special patterned glass for facades), antimony-free solar glass LAMBERTS EcoSolar (optimized cast glass generating solar power), wired glass and wired ornament glass. LAMBERTS Eco-Ornament Glasses are frequently used in facades as an alternative to neutral float glass or in combination with float glass due to their impressive play of light.

Products applied in Commercial , Cultural , Educational , +6
Share or Add Pratt Institute, Higgins Hall Insertion to your Collections